the season. Its possibilities are unlimited. Just think what it means. The scenes shown are full of life and action, simply lacking in vocalization. To describe the enthusiasm aroused would be impossible." As motion pictures grew in popularity, so did the local and regional film production community. Filmmakers during this time period typically created short films based on either real life or based on stories or entertainment. Roxbury, Massachusetts born G.W. "Billy" Bitzer rose to prominence during this early age of motion pictures, and created two pictures set in Boston: Seeing Boston in 1905, a picture consisting of a series of scenes from Boston, and Midwinter Bathing, L Street Bath, Boston, also in 1905. These two pictures are thought to be two of the first ever shot in Boston. As motion picture production evolved, so did its themes. Shortly after the silent shorts, filmmakers began adapting novels to the screen. Adaptation material in New England was especially rich with so many well-known novels being based there. House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter are two such novels based in New England and adapted into motion pictures, and two films that played a role in shaping the cinematic themes that would become part of New England film's identity for the entirety of the 20th century. According moving picture archives Northeast Historic Film (NHF), these themes include Development of Yankee Characters, Smalltown Life Contrasted with city Values, Seafaring Tales, Family Secrets, and Haunted New England. These themes, rooted in centuries of New England culture, are complemented by the region's diverse natural landscape and architecture, from the Atlantic Ocean and brilliant fall foliage to church steeples and skyscrapers. After the motion picture's introduction to New England in the late 1800s, the region saw a boom in film production in the 1930s and 1940s due to the spread of talking pictures or "talkies." Classic movies set in Boston from this era include Captains Courageous (1937), Boomerang (1947), Lost Boundaries (1949) and Our Town (1940). The number of movies produced in Boston between the 1950s and 1980s averaged 10 per decade, including box office hits Boston Strangler (1968) and Jaws (1975), until the 1990s when film production in the region exploded thanks to new and improved filming infrastructure. This upward trend continued in the 2000s, due in large part to tax incentive programs put in place by regional governments to attract filmmakers and